Businessman Otari Kobakhidze opposed the dismissal of the criminal proceedings against Denis Voronenkov, the deceased former State Duma deputy, and decided to appeal the relevant ruling. According to Voronenkov’s lawyer Andrey Grivtsov, terminating the case on non-rehabilitating grounds does not mean that Voronenkov was found guilty.

“One wouldn’t wish what my family has gone through on one’s worst enemy. We will appeal and seek justice,” Interfax quotes Kobakhidze.

On Monday, October 29, the Tushinsky District Court of Moscow terminated the Voronenkov’s case at the request of his relatives. His son Nikolay at first objected, but then agreed, said Grivtsov.

According to investigators, in 2010–2011, Voronenkov, in collusion with other persons, produced and submitted forged documents to the Federal Tax Service. With the help of the forged papers, Voronenkov deprived Kobakhidze of his title to a building on the Mezhdunarodnaya Street in Moscow and sold it to businessman Vitaly Kachura for 20 million rubles ($ 304,000). The investigators believe that Voronenkov unofficially received more than $ 1.2 million from the buyer of the building. According to the ICR, the former deputy led the operation to seize the building and was the organizer of the entire criminal scheme.

In 2017, Voronenkov hid from the investigation in Ukraine, and after three weeks the ex-deputy was shot dead in Kiev.